Bill Text: HI SB2098 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

---

Bill Title: Privacy of Health Care Information; HIPAA

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-03-08 - (H) Referred to HLT, CPC/JUD, referral sheet 41 [SB2098 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB2098-Amended.html

---

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2573

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2098

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2098 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRIVACY OF HEALTH CARE INFORMATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that persons and entities subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), who use or disclose information in a manner permitted by and consistent with HIPAA and related federal regulations, shall be deemed to be acting in compliance with state privacy laws and rules.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Governor; the Department of Health; the Hawaii Health Information Exchange; AlohaCare; Hawaii Chapter, American Physical Therapy Association; the Healthcare Association of Hawaii; the Hawaii Association of Health Plans; Kaiser Permanente Hawaii; the Hawaii Disability Rights Center; the Hawaii Medical Service Association; and the Hawaii Health Information Corporation.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Association for Justice.  The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure facilitates the exchange of health information and simplifies the complex analysis of applicable state privacy laws by harmonizing various state laws and rules governing the disclosure of medical information with federal HIPAA requirements.  By simplifying the health information exchange between providers, this measure will aid in improving patient care, reducing health care costs, and enhancing the quality of health care operations without compromising privacy protections.

 

     Your Committee recognizes the work of the representatives from the Office of the Governor, the Department of Health, the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Department of the Attorney General, and other health care stakeholders who developed and streamlined the language in this measure for consideration.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Revising the purpose section to state that the purpose is to assure that covered entities and their business associates subject to and in compliance with HIPAA shall be in compliance with state privacy laws and rules and specifying the laws subject to this measure, including the use and disclosure laws for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), or AIDS Related Complex (ARC); developmental disabilities; and mental health records;

 

     (2)  Deleting references to laws enacted prior to HIPAA to clarify that this measure applies to laws that pre-date and post date the enactment of HIPAA;

 

     (3)  Deleting language that protects any state law or rule that requires notification of other security or privacy breaches from this measure and adding language that protects any evidentiary privilege, discovery limitation, or confidentiality protection provided by law, rule, order, or decision in relation to individually identifiable health information sought, used, or produced in any judicial or administrative proceeding from this measure; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2098, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2098, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

		____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair